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<\/p>\nFloyd Mayweather. LeBron James. Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n
Mayweather, the boxer. James and Jordan, the basketballers.<\/p>\n
All were elite, generational talents. All were superstar athletes that Greg Bell studied from afar, with a close eye on the grind and attention to detail they put into becoming the best at what they did. It\u2019s where Bell found inspiration to push to not only be good, but to seek greatness.<\/p>\n
The Ottawa REDBLACKS running back has faced plenty of adversity during his football journey, including an eye injury that could have blinded him. But, with faith, family, resilience and a dog-on-a-bone mentality, he\u2019s become one of the CFL\u2019s top running backs, a reliable ball carrier the REDBLACKS made a priority to sign during the league\u2019s free-agency period in February.<\/p>\n
Why Mayweather, James and Jordan? What did he take from the all-timers?<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t care what anyone thought,\u201d said the 27-year-old Bell. \u201cThey kept working hard at what they did; it didn\u2019t matter what was going on around them. What I took from it was that you can\u2019t let anything distract you. Put your head down and keep working, no matter what\u2019s going on in your personal life or wherever. If you stay focused on what you are doing and work hard at it, everything will work out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along the way, Bell has been told he wasn\u2019t meant to be a running back; maybe he should be a receiver, maybe he should play on defence. He proved any naysayers wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always knew I was a running back, but it was something I had to push through,\u201d he said. \u201cI had to keep working at it to make sure I could make my dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a terrific high school football career in California, he wound up at a junior college, Arizona Western, where he again put on a show, from 2016-17.<\/p>\n
Heavily recruited, he transferred to Nebraska in 2018.<\/p>\n
The following season, without a scholarship, he went back home, committing to San Diego State. He took on a job at an Amazon warehouse to help pay for school.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks before the start of fall camp, a freak training accident derailed him. He was working out with a resistance band, but backed up a bit too far, and the band snapped into his right eye. Doctors told him he was at risk of losing sight in that eye if he took a severe hit to the head. So, he sat out the season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think anything of it when it happened,\u201d said Bell. \u201cI thought, \u2018I\u2019ll go wipe my eye off, and I\u2019ll be OK.\u2019 But I couldn\u2019t see. The doctor told me I needed immediate surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew I could work through it. I knew God would find a way for me to get back on the field. You can\u2019t (feel sorry for yourself), you don\u2019t want to get depressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
After COVID wiped out most spring football sessions in 2020, he got off to a quick start in the fall season, but was slowed down by a foot injury.<\/p>\n
Undeterred, he hung in.<\/p>\n
In 2021, he rushed for 1,091 yards, scoring nine touchdowns.<\/p>\n
The next two seasons, he got NFL looks from Detroit and Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n
Then, in 2024, he was scooped up by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Last season, Bell took a big jump ahead. With 1,038 yards rushing, 426 yards in pass catches and six touchdowns in 15 games, he was an offensive catalyst for the Ticats.<\/p>\n
He says he hasn\u2019t set individual expectations on what he can do with the REDBLACKS.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy job is to make plays and help the team,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I need to keep proving myself, I need to show that I can still do this. But my goal is simple: Win football games. I\u2019m a hard worker, I\u2019m someone who loves football and is willing to do anything I can to help us win. I promise you this: I\u2019m going to give 100% every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaming is one of Bell\u2019s hobbies; he figures it helps him as a football player as well. With the Ticats, he was involved in a group that played EA Sports College Football in a league format. Bell had TCU.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play NCAA, GTA (Grand Theft Auto), Call of Duty,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re playing Call of Duty and someone comes at you from the left side, you have to turn and shoot them; that\u2019s reaction time. I think it can be related to reaction on the football field; it sharpens what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bell has been playing football since he was five. He also played basketball and baseball, but it just wasn\u2019t the same. Asked when he thought becoming a professional football player was realistic, he said: \u201cForever. I\u2019ve always thought this way. I had confidence in myself; I knew I could get to this level if I worked hard. If you don\u2019t believe in yourself, nobody will. If you don\u2019t keep pushing yourself, you don\u2019t know what can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to describe himself, Bell said: \u201cI\u2019m a quieter guy. I try to make sure I do things the right way. I also try to be a good person; I feel if that\u2019s who I am, good things will happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, what do the REDBLACKS expect from Bell this season?<\/p>\n
\u201c(He helps us) a ton,\u201d said REDBLACKS head coach Ryan Dinwiddie. \u201cHe adds to our pass game. He\u2019s going to give the defence problems, and they\u2019re going to have to have a plan for (what he can do) each week.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll join Canadian running back Daniel Adeboboye, who is coming off a solid season, in the REDBLACKS backfield.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaniel will get some reps, he\u2019ll still be on the field quite a bit,\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cWe can\u2019t kill Greg with a huge load. I think (Bell) will get the majority of (the playing time), then (sometimes) we\u2019ll have them both on the field at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
FEST FOR THE FANS: The REDBLACKS will hold their Fan Fest Saturday, with an open practice from 1-4 p.m. at TD Place. There\u2019ll be plenty going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, we\u2019re just trying to get guys ready for the pre-season game (May 22 in Montreal),\u201d said Dinwiddie. \u201cIt\u2019s a glorified practice to let the fans see our new players, but we\u2019ll go through scenarios that could come up in a game. We\u2019ll probably run about 45-50 plays.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Floyd Mayweather. LeBron James. Michael Jordan. Mayweather, the boxer. James and Jordan, the basketballers. All were elite, generational…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-672129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}